Russian GRU officer named as coordinator of Salisbury nerve agent attack

The officer, identified as Denis Sergeyev from Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency, has been named as the coordinator of last year’s nerve agent attack in the English town of Salisbury, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has reported.

The broadcaster cited the Bellingcat investigative organisation as saying that it obtained telephone metadata logs validating the conclusion that the poisoning was supervised and coordinated by Sergeyev, an active officer in Russia’s GRU military intelligence at the time.

Sergeyev worked from a hotel in central London to coordinate the attack against former Russian spy Sergei Skripal, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported on its website, citing Bellingcat.

Skripal, a former Russian intelligence agent convicted of spying for Britain, and his daughter Yulia were left fighting for their lives after they were exposed to the deadly Novichok nerve agent in Salisbury, a picturesque city near the famous ancient ruins of Stonehenge, on March 5, 2018.

Both became seriously ill, but made a full recovery after spending several weeks in a hospital, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported.

A British citizen, Dawn Sturgess, later died from poisoning after coming in contact with the chemical agent, according to the rferl.org website.

In response to the incident, London in March last year expelled 23 Russian diplomats believed to be intelligence agents.

Poland expelled four Russian diplomats as part of a coordinated international response to the suspected nerve agent attack in Salisbury.

Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz said at the time that Britain had been targeted in an "unprecedented attack which was the first deliberate use of chemical weapons against a group of civilians in Europe in the history of post-war Europe.”

Moscow has denied allegations of Russian involvement.

(gs/pk)

Source: rferl.org